Duke of Richard Plantagenet Temple Nugent Brydges Chandos Grenville Buckingham and Chandos

“ It was evident from his language that his Ministry was undecided up to the moment when he left town; for he said more than once, "If my Government remain, or if partial changes take place, which must be the case, it is necessary for them now to meet the questions manfully. The tide of public opinion has changed, and they must profit by it. If they surrender, they give up the monarchy—the constitution—all that we hold sacred; for Lord Grey, by his speech at Durham, has shown his connexion and his determination to unite with the Radicals. ”

“ But I confess that I shall take it myself, and see it taken by my colleagues with the greatest reluctance and pain, for reasons which in fact constitute the great difference between these times and others.
It would not be difficult to form a Government to succeed to us out of our own party. But if we are unable to conduct the Government, they would be still more unequal to it; and they would want particularly our experience in tiding over the difficulties of the day. The Opposition are still more unable than ourselves or others to form and conduct a real Government. ”

“ LORD CASSILIS TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.
Culzean Castle, Dec. —.
I received your letter, my dear Lord Buckingham, when writhing under a fit of the gout, the legacy of the Bill of Pains and Penalties which you made me vote for. God help us! as the saying is; for what is to become of us, He only knows. There seems nothing but chaos and desolation whatever way a man turns himself: the middle classes of the people waging war upon the higher orders; the tenantry taking advantage of the times to conspire against their landlords ”

“ Of Canning at this period one of his intimate friends thus speaks:—"Great as his talents for Parliament are, and great as is the want of them on the Ministerial side of the House, it is not without the utmost reluctance that the rest of the Cabinet will consent to receive him as an associate. If they make him any proposal, it will be only because they are forced to it by the opinion and wishes of their own friends, and if they make him a fair proposal, it will be a clear proof that they think that the Government cannot go on without his aid." ”

“ Lord Grey has been particularly active to stimulate the Opposition to violent hostility and censure, but it was supposed yesterday, that in order to avoid the hazard of a permanent and acrimonious split, they would all unite in favour of inquiry as a mezzo termino. Should this be the case, it is almost certain we shall find ourselves in a decided minority; still, the infinite evil attendant upon an inquiry, the irritation which it would create in Ireland, are considerations so weighty that we all think it better to be beaten on such a question than to concede it. ”

“ Nothing is talked of but Lord Wellesley's business; he really seems to have lost his head, though Plunket and Newport are come full primed and most loud in his defence; the Opposition, I have no doubt, will support him, and I have as little doubt that the Cabinet will do the same; but all the Orange part of the Government are trumpeting forth his misconduct, and folly, and madness. The real fact I believe to be, that he has been guilty of great imprudence, but that the Orange faction in Ireland were determined to drive him away, and Lord Manners was at the head of this faction. ”

“ I told him when he was talking over the state of the House of Commons, that I thought if he could in the arrangement secure the most efficient of the present members of Government, together with your squadron, Canning, and Peel, such a Government might defy not only the Opposition, but all the folly, or indiscretion, or passion of the King; to which he said, "It is the only Government that ought to be formed." ”

“ The House of Commons is totally unmanageable in any such view. The whole weight of the Ministers there, combining their aid as they now do, is, as you see, hardly sufficient to carry on the ordinary public business from day to day. I very much question whether all the weight that the Opposition could unite for the same purpose, if the task were committed into their hands, would be much, if at all, more adequate to it. ”

“ Who is there that can sufficiently adopt the thoughts and feelings and taste of another, to decide for him what is best for his own happiness? Why should it be required that I, who have one foot in the grave, should see the objects of public life or the means of attaining them, in the same points of view with yourself, who are in the prime of active life, and ardently alive to all those pursuits which are flat and unprofitable to my antiquated eyes? ”

“ Undoubtedly, the abstract right of Parliament to call upon Ministers as responsible for their advice in the exercise of the Royal prerogative, cannot be denied; but the more or less apologetic tone taken by them upon such questions is often of the highest importance. Their wretched fears for themselves—their unworthy submission to insult and indignity of every kind put upon them by the highest as well as the lowest—their abandonment of all that is due to the dignity and authority of the Executive Government, provided they are allowed to continue in the offices of it ”

“ His policy in domestic affairs was marked by the same far-seeing wisdom, the same intrepid resistance to the blindness of present clamour. He made the most strenuous efforts to uphold the Sinking Fund—that noble monument of Mr. Pitt's patriotic foresight; had those efforts been successful, the whole National Debt would have been paid off by the year 1845, and the nation for ever have been freed from the payment of thirty millions a-year for its interest. ”

“ The impression his Majesty made was not always favourable. "I cannot help suspecting," observes an intelligent cotemporary "that his Majesty's late journeys to see his kingdoms of Ireland and Hanover will not on the whole redound much to his honour or advantage. His manners no doubt are, when he pleases, very graceful and captivating. No man knows better how to add to an obligation by the way of conferring it. But on the whole he wants dignity, not only in the seclusion and familiarity of his more private life, but on public occasions. ”

“ While Lord Liverpool and Lord Eldon retain their present offices, I feel convinced that nothing but the active influence of the King (which I think is not likely to be so exerted) can carry the Bill through the Lords, and unless some favourable circumstances should seem to open fresh hopes of their passing it, we shall, I am sure, have great difficulty in procuring the attendance of its friends in the Commons, many of whom feel that they support it at the imminent hazard of their seats, and will highly disapprove of its being so soon agitated again without an increased chance of final success. ”

“ It is perhaps not unreasonable in me, who see you one of the first men in the country, with a Dukedom and the Garter, and having already all that the Crown can give, to consider you as standing upon very elevated ground, and as being one who ought not easily to be persuaded by any Government to accept of any office from them. On the other hand, it is quite natural for you or any man who has the ambition to be decidedly the one first man in the country, to take the course which in your judgment leads most directly to the object of your wishes ”

“ Drinking toasts, shaking people by the hand, and calling them Jack and Tom, gets more applause at the moment, but fails entirely in the long run. He seems to have behaved not like a sovereign coming in pomp and state to visit a part of his dominions, but like a popular candidate come down upon an electioneering trip. If the day before he left Ireland he had stood for Dublin, he would, I dare say, have turned out Shaw or Grattan. Henry IV. is a dangerous example for sovereigns that are not, like him, splendid chevaliers and consummate captains. ”

“ My view of the present state of affairs in Ireland would lead me to think that an impartial, equitable, and mild administration of the law (of which the alteration cannot be effected or attempted by a Lord Lieutenant) , is the only safe course which can now be pursued, and the only channel through which we can ever reach a happy and permanent settlement.
With this view I entertain no apprehension of interruption in my government from the influence mentioned by your Lordship, as the subject of alarm in some most respectable minds. ”

“ I do believe that there is arising in the country enough of a Royalist spirit and feeling to have enabled such a man as Pitt, with his courage and abilities, and with some foundation of natural personal popularity, to avail himself of it, and by putting a speedy end, quoquo modo, to the discussions about the Queen's business, to make a good stand for the maintenance of Government. ”

“ I can understand your feeling with regard to their declarations in favour of the revolutionary Spanish Government; but however you may feel, depend upon it no Minister, no Government, and no man is powerful enough in this country, either in political or personal character, to stand up to fight the battle of the Ultras. I should say that the King and the Duke of York would do so if they could find the means, but these are impossible, and the public odium which would follow such an attempt would be fatal to any man or set of men. ”

“ At all events, I am most anxious that we should, for the present, stand aloof, when there has been so much to disgust us in the conduct of both parties, till we see what effect is produced by what has happened. Something certainly might depend upon the nature of the split which might take place in the Administration; but I fear that there could scarcely be any one which would not ensure the retirement of the only man whom it would be important to retain—Lord Liverpool. ”

“ The rumour of the Queen's approach created extraordinary excitement among all classes in every part of the kingdom. The Lord Chancellor prophetically says, "If she can venture, she is the most courageous lady I ever heard of. The mischief, if she does come, will be infinite. At first, she will have extensive popularity with the multitude; in a few short months or weeks, she will be ruined in the opinion of all the world." [20] "One can't help admiring her spirit," observes the moral Wilberforce, "though I fear she has been very profligate." ”

“ Government have, I think, fallen into the same mistake which they did in the Manchester business, of keeping back their justification, while they allow their adversaries to preoccupy the ground in public opinion. I know enough of the folly and mischievous disposition of W——, to give them full credit for the sufficiency of their reasons; but in the present temper of the country, and in the absence of all confidence in the Administration, I do not conceive it wise to have acted on those reasons, unless they could be publicly and explicitly, though not perhaps officially, avowed. ”

“ I will endeavour to throw myself in the Duke of Wellington's way, but I should think it unwise to call upon him; and, if I have an opportunity, will open the subject. After his declarations, if the business is off, he will and must feel very awkward; but at the same time, I think he must also feel called upon to give you some explanation. The truth is, that the Government is so extremely weak, and so dis-united in itself, and upon such terms with the King, that they don't know from day to day, or from hour to hour, what will be their next proceedings. ”

“ I know that they cannot yet bring the King to any determination, and they are yet firmly resolved to adhere to their decision of resisting the nomination of Lord Conyngham, and of strengthening their Government. You must give them credit for doing the thing eventually, but they are obliged to judge the best manner. He will resist to the last moment, but I am fully persuaded he will and must ultimately give way. You have no right to feel indignant as long as you are not exclusively neglected; and my own opinion is, that Canning will not be recommended without you and your friends. ”

“ Certainly this is what I should individually prefer to any other arrangement, but it is impossible not to see the extreme difficulty which must arise in drawing a line between the less violent and more furious of the Opposition, since no man can say where that line should run, or who should be included in each division.
It hardly can be desirable that we should select that moment for connecting ourselves with those whom we have so long opposed, when they are on the point of being kicked out, when they have lost both the favour of the Crown and the confidence of the House of Commons. ”

“ Altogether, if A'Court can succeed in persuading Spain that it is her interest to wait till she is attacked, and only to resent these words with words, I think it is very probable peace may still be preserved, as Villele has extremely increased his strength in the Legislative Assembly, and the danger of again bringing a French army into action is felt by every one but the Emperor Alexander, who, as usual, acts from his own feelings only, and particularly from aversion to the example of a successful military mutiny, to which Prussia also is most sensible. ”

“ Every man who goes into a court of law, and especially every man who attacks a newspaper there, does, under our blessed system of newspaper government, expose himself to a lottery, the chances of which no man can foresee, and out of which it would be much more desirable to keep himself. ”

“ I am rejoiced that no new arrangements take place in your political relations with the Government, for I am persuaded the best, the most advantageous, and most popular state in which your interests can stand, for some time at least, is by remaining perfectly quiet, and suffering public discussion on men and parties and official situations to be diverted to other quarters. ”